A conveyor system is known having a plurality of cars displaceable along a track and each having a side provided with a plurality of parallel guides. Each such guide receives a respective code marker which is slidable along the guide and arrestable therein at any of a plurality of predetermined index positions. The markers are set in a pattern in their various index positions which determines a path of travel of the respective car on the track toward a remote station. Switches at various intersections of the track are operated by scanners that can read the pattern on the side of the car and shunt the car onto the proper track section to route this car to the destination determined by the address indexed in the markers.
When the car arrives at its location the user places the article to be transported in it and usually readdresses the car simply by manually displacing the markers into the positions corresponding to the location to which the car is to be sent. The car is then set back in motion on the track. When the user at the receiving station has no need for the car he sets on the car the address code for a holding area where the cars not in use are kept.
Such a conveyor installation usually has self-propelled cars, each of which has its own drive motor. The tracks themselves or a third rail may provide the electricity to power the vehicles, or each may have its own storage battery in which case rechargers are provided at the holding area. Each car is in effect a small bin that can transport small objects within a processing plant, warehouse, or the like.
It is known to provide at the holding area a dispatcher for setting the address code and sending off the cars. Such a device has pins which are inserted in holes corresponding to the code to be set. Once the proper address code has been set the entire dispatch device is pivoted away from the side of the car. Such a device is invariably extremely complicated and does not lend itself to automation of the system.